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As of the 1790 census, in the immediate aftermath of the American Revolution, 8.6% of all Americans were of German ancestry. The center of this population was in eastern and central Pennsylvania, with lesser centers in western Maryland, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys of New York. Many of these immigrants moved into the Midwest, following the same paths blazed by the less industrious but more belligerent Scotch-Irish. Interestingly, the German-American commanders in chief in World War I (Pershing) and World War II (Eisenhower) were descendants of colonial era German immigrants, who were raised in the rural Midwest (Missouri and Kansas, respectively) in largely non-German communities.

The political and economic turmoil of 19th Century Germany motivated mass migration to the United States. Additionally, the 19th Century immigration wave included large numbers of German Catholics, which had not been the case in colonial times. West of Chicago, the Catholic hierarchy, historically Irish from Chicago east, takes on a decidedly German flavor. Most of the German immigrants, whether Catholic, Lutheran, or Reformed, settled in the Upper Midwest. Almost one-half of Wisconsin residents have German roots. Except for Texas, this wave of German immigration had little effect on the South.

As for Canada, I thought significant numbers of Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians, and Slavs had migrated to the Prairie Provinces. Wasn't one of their Prime Ministers have the German or Dutch sounding name Diefenbaker?

From what I seem to grasp of scant knowledge of Canadian history, the non-British/Irish origin "English" Canadian had (and has) never been able to get into positions of power. The ruling elites have always been British (not even Irish) on the side of English Canada, and of course complemented by French Canadians.

One of the reasons seem to be that Germans are scattered between Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatcheswan, and Alberta and within Ontario, they don't concentrate in Toronto but rather Windsor or Kitchener. This proved fatal because English Canadian politics begins and ends in Ontario and particularly Toronto. In Toronto the British descents have been in levers of powers and it was them who controlled the blue machines which delivered Conservative (capital C - they are paternalist High Tory types) governments from World War I right up to 1984.

Also a curious question: how do British/Irish descents view otehr white European Americans? In New Zealand there were reports of prejudice from British/Irish towards non-British/Irish descent European New Zealanders well into the early 1990s. I have observed that many people unsonsciously classify British/Irish and non-British/Irish descents even now.

Thanks for the info. It really is very interesting.

Ashamed to say I didn't pay enough attention to Canadian history. Yes, many of the groups you mentioned moved into the prairie's, although the main group that did was the Ukrainians.

I live in Victoria, which is still a very English city, so I likely get a skewed idea of Canada's make up.